Halfway There
I first began this monthly column six months ago
as a way to jumpstart my flagging creativity. As
the blurb to the right states, I've called myself a
writer for many years, but I haven't written nearly
as consistently as I should. Sure, I've often been
paid to write, but a true writer writes on a daily
basis. Now that I've spent half the year writing
every day (for the most part) for this Web column,
it's time to take a step back and evaluate what the
exercise has meant.
I've covered a lot of ground in the 66,000 words
since the first of the year. In many ways, this
opus reflects my life of the past six months. I've
waxed
philosophical about the state of my life's
affairs; I've ranted
about the war in Iraq and other political matters;
I've happily
recounted some of the year's fun travels. But
has "The Daily Strick" been a success? The jury's
still out on that one.
This daily column has certainly challenged me to
keep my writing muscles in shape. I've done my best
to write nearly every day, though my life in recent
weeks has intruded upon that ambition. Writing on
such a consistent basis has helped me to refine my
style somewhat, and I've become better able to
produce articles quickly. However, this daily
column was supposed to have been a means to an end,
not an end in itself. The goal was to get the
creative juices flowing by writing something brief
here, so that I'd be primed to generate other, more
marketable content. In the final analysis (or, more
accurately, the halfway-point analysis), most of
the work I've produced this year can be found right
here on this Web site, instead of in some magazine
or newspaper.
Certainly, the idea file overflows as always,
and I've laid the groundwork for several travel
articles, a screenplay and a short story. But as
busy as my life has been, what little writing time
I carve out of my day ends up getting spent right
here. This project has taken on a life of its own,
so I'm loathe to ignore it in favor of working on
something else. I feel guilty enough when I skip a
day or two here and there because I can't find
any time for writing. I can't say this makes
much logical sense, especially in light of the fact
that this site only gets a handful of visits each
day. But I've invested too much pride at this
point, so I have to keep it going.
Perhaps the goal for the second half of this
project should not be to write and post an article
here every day, but rather to only allow myself to
work on these "Daily Strick" columns after
I've worked on some other writing project that day.
Will I follow such a strategy? It seems doubtful,
considering the paucity of my free time lately, but
it's at least an admirable plan. Whatever happens,
I'll do my best to ensure you continue to receive a
new edition of "The Daily Strick" every day.
If only I could boost my daily circulation over
10.
©2003 Michael
Strickland ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED
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